throwing a leg down

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i started riding on dirt at age 11. i developed the habit of throwing a leg down when the bike starts to slide out. so far this hasnt been a problem but recently i've experienced some pain after doing it especially hard.

my question is this. is this dangerous? is it good technique? if so in which situations should it be done or not be done.

thanks.

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yes, it can be dangerous, an easy way to tear the ligaments in your knee. I try to keep my feet on the pegs as much as possible when riding in the woods. Sometimes, though, it is a reaction to a quick slide or high side and there's nothing you can do. I have had ACL reconstruction several years ago and wear braces, but 8 months ago I clipped a tree and my leg instinctively went out to compensate. Twisted it pretty good, thought I was going to need surgery. Luckily it's good now, but it took about 6 months before it felt the same again. I say, keep you feet on the pegs as much as possible, make a mental effort to do it. It will also be less likely to have your feet caught by a stump, vine, root, etc. while riding.

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Like GMoss, I too have torn ligaments and damaged cartilage in my left knee from going through a 2nd gear turn that was badly rutted from being ridden after some hard rains. I also agree that this technique is more for balance. What I now do (for both balance and the occasional necessary stab to stop a front end wash out) is to carry my leg intentionally high, with my knee bent at almost 90 degrees. Fully extending my leg and having it out by the front wheel was what did me in....the rear kicked out when it dropped into one of the ruts, slamming my foot into the ground, hyperextending my knee. I now ride with a pair of CTi2 braces. They can be a bit uncomfortable, but much better than the pain of a blown out knee.

And women say there's no pain to compare with that of childbirth...I beg to differ.

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The Mrs put a foot down and it snagged on some rocks and twisted, we have to wait til Mon to see the specialist, but Xrays say nothings broke!

Hope she's ok... I ride a lot of trails that have stumps hidden by brush etc... so I can even have a foot injury if my toes are not pointed toward the bike. I have to concentrate A LOT on breaking my habit of putting my foot down and not keeping my toes pointed in...

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buddy of mine, never takes his feet off the pegs, almost regardless of the situation. That way if the bike slides out from under him, he jumps off not to pen his leg under the bike. Or if the bike is about to is about to tip over (either sideways or end over end), he just uses both pegs to jump / spring off the bike and away from it to avoid injury.

Thats his philosophy at least. I'm a new rider, but what he says does make some sense to me.

Greg

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buddy of mine, never takes his feet off the pegs, almost regardless of the situation. That way if the bike slides out from under him, he jumps off not to pen his leg under the bike. Or if the bike is about to is about to tip over (either sideways or end over end), he just uses both pegs to jump / spring off the bike and away from it to avoid injury.

Thats his philosophy at least. I'm a new rider, but what he says does make some sense to me.

Greg

That's some hellacious reaction time your buddy has...sounds like he's spending a lot of time and energy picking his bike up. What's he do when the front end washes?

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no doubt. I have hit the ground so fast before, I was left trying to figure out what happened. I do try to keep them on the pegs most of the time though.

I heard that! At my last unscheduled meeting with Mother Earth, I was skirting high and right on a wide pine sapling bordered trail that was really nothing more than a 15ft. wide abyss of a rut. The last two things I saw (with just a millisecond between the two images) were a brief glimpse of the limb that just had to reach out and touch someone, and my red visor folding down over my goggles as I began plowing the north 40.

Jump off?! HA! Just a bit too busy being knocked off....

...assrite...

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My hardest hit came from a front end wash shortly after the beginning of a HS race. It happened on a sweeping fast dirt road section that was hardpacked with a light coating of sand on top. I got lawn darted into the dirt, didn't even get a chance to get my hands out. My goggles ended up around my neck and my visor in front of my face. Felt like I had been thrown to the ground by Andre the Giant.

I just can't think of too many instances where I would want or could 'jump' off the bike during a crash...

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I am new to the dirt biking, tons of mtn biking, and learnt today that the foot is much safer on the pegs than on the ground. Right now I cannot put any weight on my left knee or straighten it, it bends fine but doesn't like being straight!! And I was having such a great ride to, oh well got the oil changed with the help of some Advil!!

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Despite the fact that I rarely express my opinion on this forum I shall do so here with your (collective) indulgence:

If your weight is firmly on the ouside peg and your butt-crack is on (or over) the outside edge of the seat and the bike starts to slide it will take you WITH it (best fun on the planet) as opposed to it sliding away from you and dumping you in the dirt (worst fun ever). As long as you are sliding with the bike, there is no need to dab your foot, just use throttle and steering to control the degree of slide and to determine how and when you wish to stop sliding. With your body in the above position it is quite difficult to put your inside leg on the inside peg unless you have wierdly jointed and unusually long legs.

When you see MX riders with a leg thrown out is is mostly because there is nowhere else for that leg to go since the bike and rider angles preclude both feet on the pegs. Also if the bike did fall there is less likelihood of getting your foot wrenched by the bike if it is outside the potential area of contact (the bit between the ground and the leaning bike).

Whenever I have had to dab a foot in a slide it was invariably because I was not far enough across and the bike was effectively taking me for a ride instead of the other way around.

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Despite the fact that I rarely express my opinion on this forum I shall do so here with your (collective) indulgence:

If your weight is firmly on the ouside peg and your butt-crack is on (or over) the outside edge of the seat and the bike starts to slide it will take you WITH it (best fun on the planet) as opposed to it sliding away from you and dumping you in the dirt (worst fun ever). As long as you are sliding with the bike, there is no need to dab your foot, just use throttle and steering to control the degree of slide and to determine how and when you wish to stop sliding. With your body in the above position it is quite difficult to put your inside leg on the inside peg unless you have wierdly jointed and unusually long legs.

When you see MX riders with a leg thrown out is is mostly because there is nowhere else for that leg to go since the bike and rider angles preclude both feet on the pegs. Also if the bike did fall there is less likelihood of getting your foot wrenched by the bike if it is outside the potential area of contact (the bit between the ground and the leaning bike).

Whenever I have had to dab a foot in a slide it was invariably because I was not far enough across and the bike was effectively taking me for a ride instead of the other way around.

Meatbomb......

I will (collectively) concur there, Terminal Velocity T-Bone Man...the only occasions that I've needed a 'stab at the ground' have been in the situations when my front end has washed. And that's more of an involuntary reaction than anything else. The majority of the time, though it has saved me from a hard face-plant. But alas, there have been those (fortunately) few instances when my best efforts have not been enough, and gravity has won the battle.

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I am new to the dirt biking, tons of mtn biking, and learnt today that the foot is much safer on the pegs than on the ground. Right now I cannot put any weight on my left knee or straighten it, it bends fine but doesn't like being straight!! And I was having such a great ride to, oh well got the oil changed with the help of some Advil!!

You may want to get that knee checked out....sounds alarmingly similar to the end results of each of my hyper-extensions, each damaging my maniscus, medial collateral, etc. With my first injury, I learned the hard way that it wasn't something that was just going to go away.

Hopefully yours was much less severe; but if not, delaying the proper fix will do nothing but make it worse. And more painful.